Parshathy J. Nath

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Mugamudigal, a city-based theatre group, gives lovers of the medium a chance to learn the ancient art of therukoothu. “An entire street would transform into a stage. The actors, positioned at two ends, would call out to each other. The fight scenes would be fearful. They would be shooting arrows at each other,” Priyanka Ulaganathan, a young architect, still recalls those nights she sat transfixed by the therukoothu performances in her village of Nangavalli in Salem. The stories were mostly from the Mahabharata. But soon, the culture of her village changed. Disco dancers replaced the koothu artists and the memory of watching the men...

Clowns in hospitals, strangely dressed men in aeronautics class, and dance and music in a grim prison. On World Theatre Day, we explore how theatre is becoming a means to educate. Did I just hear complex laws of aerodynamics being taught through theatrics and movement? And, body shaming boldly addressed through performance? While a clown artiste charms his way into the hearts of patients in a hospital. And in an apartment, there is a bohemian charm, as a play by Stray Factory unfolds. Conventional methods make way for interesting theatrical motifs in not just education, but also in combating...